Excise policy "scam": SC reserves order on Kejriwal's pleas for bail, against arrest by CBI
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday reserved its order on Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's separate pleas seeking bail and challenging his arrest by the CBI in the alleged excise policy scam.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan heard arguments put forward by Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, representing the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), and senior advocate Abhishek Singhvi, appearing for Kejriwal.
"Thank you for the assistance. Judgment reserved," the bench said after the lawyers concluded their arguments.
Kejriwal has filed two separate petitions challenging the denial of bail and against his arrest by the CBI in the the corruption case filed by the central agency.
The AAP chief was arrested by the CBI on June 26.
The Delhi High Court had on August 5 upheld the arrest of the chief minister as legal, and said there was no malice in the acts done by the CBI which was able to demonstrate how the AAP supremo could influence witnesses who could muster the courage to depose only after his arrest.
The excise policy was scrapped in 2022 after the Delhi lieutenant governor ordered a CBI probe into alleged irregularities and corruption involving its formulation and execution.
According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to licence holders.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
